“The biggest marketing can be done through word of mouth”: Nitin Kochar

Nitin Kochar is currently the SVP of ShopClues. Earlier, he has worked as the Channel Development Manager at ITC and then Senior Director-Business Development at Flipkart. Working for more than 14 years, he has done really well in the marketing field. Recently he was present for the launch of brand new Swipe ELITE VR Smartphone. Let’s read out the small chit chat between Nitin and Jyoti.

You worked in organizations like ITC then Flipkart and now ShopClues. So what kind of challenges you had to face while working in these organizations?

Number one challenge is managing the team together with a common vision. Because if you have to do something bigger then you have to get your team along. Then the next challenge is coming up with innovation. Innovation is not easy. It is something which stands out and is can’t be superficial. I think getting new opportunities every time is practically a tough problem. So it was there in all the organizations. Taking a futuristic view and planning a strategy can be big players. Like, we were not known to much people three years back but now we are known to everyone and also we are in the top lists existing nowhere in the top lists but now we are a big bang because we were doing things very diligently.

Do you think the launch of ELITE VR Smartphone will take India to a new height?

Smartphones have a big requirement in the rural market especially in the Tier-2 or Tier-3 market. VR is like a new innovation. Number one, it is an exciting element, number two will be the language feature. The biggest data of 34% and 66% makes great sense. It is the future if we have to get the next set of things.

In India, very few people in the rural areas are much aware of the latest technology. Similar is the case of Virtual Reality lens; so how you are going to let them know about the usage of VR lenses?

I think it is just like hearts; how it works. There is a lot of excitement and curiosity. I think it’s just like the feel good factor but the biggest differentiation will be the language and price factor.

As you talk about the Tier-2 and Tier-3 people, so what’s your strategy to connect with all those group of people?

Now the thing is that the digital market is very customized. You can actually target big cities, specific market, spend money where you want to and we do that. So I think we have a very strong digital marketing team. Also, the biggest marketing can be done through word of mouth. If your experience in the tier-3 market is good then people talk about it and there is a spread (about the product).

What are your expectations regarding Elite VR?

I think more than 10%-20% of our business in smartphones category should come from this model in a month or a year.